Reitz to Sterkfontein Dam
125 km; 1064 m vertical ascent in 8:14
'make no little plans; they have no magic to stir man's blood'
don't know who said it, and the internet connection is too slow to google it - but he must have known farmer glen and his crony wappa.
'cos thinking up this ride, and then pulling it off, was no little plan.
will post stats later ... but among other things, they had 4 showertrailers designed and built - you pull the trailer to where the shower area will be, put fencing around, and hot-shower-area working. Tiny cubicles, 8 to a trailer, 3 trailers.
cold water with clover-trucks that just seems to be everywhere ... 2 sets of tents, to unpitch one set and re-pitch, while the other set is in use... feeding 700-odd cyclists, washing their bikes - yes, you come in and the kids ask if they could wash your bike for you - arrive at your tent, bag's already there ... with a little chocolate welcoming you to wherever you are that night.
k, about today - was 125 km and about 1.3 km of vertical ascent. was hard, way over 8 hours. some excellent scenery. and som mud
we're in the free state - and the free state's NOT flat. thx wappa for the warning that we mustn't get excited when we saw the dam - was still a long way to go from there. highlights was a deep wavy singletrack (too short) going down to a particularly muddy tunnel - and the dam wall - and glenn disappearing with my muddy bike and returning it washed and lubed at the last waterpoint - oh, and the hot chocolate at the first waterpoint - these communities go out of their way!
here's one of the waterpoints, it looks and sounds like a festival!
only 6 days to go
it was beautiful to ride over the dam wall. 3 kms of it. into a wind, and hard riding, but so pretty.
tomorrow's the hard one - 125 kays (same distance as today) but about 2 km of vertical ascent
k, off to a hot shower now.
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